Fan In Van

Wellwood Else is There?

Sound it out. Go on, give it a try.

“Well what else is there?”

You know, I may not be a guy who can give a clever title to every post, but I’m pretty sure I can give the inside scoop on Kyle Wellwood, the Vancouver Canucks’ latest waiver wire pickup. And to sum it up in a nutshell, Wellwood is talented.

But in the NHL, players cannot succeed on talent alone. In this sport it takes a hell of a lot more than that to make it big. In the case of the Windsor, Ontario native, skill seems to be all he’s had in his six years of professional hockey; because for some reason, the kid just hasn’t been able to put his skills together.

At a paltry 5′10”, he doesn’t exactly carry the frame to throw his body around like bought out forward and ex-teammate Darcy Tucker can. The knock on Wellwood is that not only does he not hit, he tries to avoid physical contact altogether.

Look guy, we’re not asking you to blow the guy through the glass, we’re just asking for a little intensity.

Wellwood has a great set of hands and at his worst is an average skater, but it seems like he’d be better suited in a no-contact league. In fact, Wellwood doesn’t just refuse to play hard, he rarely takes penalties, and that’s not necessarily a good thing. In 189 NHL contests, he has accumulated just 14 penalty minutes. The former Leaf hasn’t been in the box since the 2005-06 season, to draw up the stats.

So let me get this straight: The Canucks, who at last season’s trade deadline swapped Matt Cooke for Matt Pettinger and might as well have asked for a heart transplant for their lack of passion down the road, picked up another diminutive forward who shies away from physical contact?

I know. Sounds ridiculous. But does it?

Look at the situation objectively. What do the Vancouver Canucks have to lose in this instance? Wellwood comes in having made less than $1M a season and can easily be retained with a qualifying offer. If, after the preseason games in September show that he is not a good fit, the Canucks can waive him and send him to the minors or let him sit in the stands at no real expense to their salary cap. In other words, we can easily consider this a tryout for Wellwood.

So to all you naysayers who think this guy will end up like Kris Beech Version 2, think again. It’s another one of those low-risk, high-reward type moves, and if it doesn’t work out, Wellwood’s stint will be over in a flash.

Another thing for Canuck fans to remember: Three weeks ago Mike Gillis stated that he wanted to not only work on draft development but player development. This means that management stops looking at players as products but as people. It’s professional development — Working closely with players to ensure they remain on the right track and not get distracted or sustain setbacks. Wellwood seems to be that guinea pig for Mike Gillis’ revolutionary NHL experiment.

But seriously, what else is there?